English
thesaurus
Thesaurus comes from Latin thēsaurus ‘treasure, hoard’, from Ancient Greek τίθημι ‘to put, place, deposit, set, assume, settle’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁-1‘to put, place’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰé-dʰeh₁-ti1reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*t(e/i)tʰēmi1reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτίθημι2títhēmi‘to put, place, deposit, set, assume, settle’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEθησαυρός3thēsaurós‘storehouse, treasure’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEthēsaurus3‘treasure, hoard’
- Englishearliest quotation 2008thesaurus3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τίθημι
- 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek θησαυρός, which cites Beekes
- 3 Wiktionary, English thesaurus
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Charles Mcgrath, The Keeper (See: Steward, Caretaker) of Synonyms: “As reference books go, the thesaurus has had a…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeh₁-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τίθημι‘to put, place’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰé-dʰeh₁-tiWiktionary, Ancient Greek τίθημιreconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*t(e/i)tʰēmiWiktionary, Ancient Greek τίθημιreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτίθημιWiktionary, Ancient Greek θησαυρός, which cites Beekestíthēmi‘to put, place, deposit, set, assume, settle’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEθησαυρόςWiktionary, English thesaurusthēsaurós‘storehouse, treasure’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEthēsaurusWiktionary, English thesaurus‘treasure, hoard’
- Englishearliest quotation 2008thesaurusWiktionary, English thesaurus. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Charles Mcgrath, The Keeper (See: Steward, Caretaker) of Synonyms: “As reference books go, the thesaurus has had a…”
The story
16th century, borrowed from Latin thēsaurus, from Ancient Greek θησαυρός (thēsaurós, “storehouse, treasure”); its current English usage/meaning was established soon after the publication of Peter Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases in 1852.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ‘to put, place’
do, fact, deal, hot, fair, defense, fan, benefit, fashion, mid, feature, defence, sufficient, custom, theme, ethnic, defendant, feast, ethical, doom, deed, dis, synthetic, theology, aesthetic, demi, auditorium, deem, ethic, spade, forfeit, auditor, feral, atheist, fanatic, familial, medial, ethos, atheism, medallion, 122 more
through Proto-Hellenic *t(e/i)tʰēmi
through Ancient Greek τίθημι ‘to put, place, deposit, set, assume, settle’
tick, synthesis, epithet, 14 more
through Ancient Greek θησαυρός ‘storehouse, treasure’
through Latin thēsaurus ‘treasure, hoard’
Today it means
noun A publication that provides synonyms (and sometimes antonyms and other semantic relations) for the words of a given language.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “thesaurus”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek τίθημι, Ancient Greek θησαυρός. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- / thesaurus